I was a former senior manager at KPMG and since 1994 the owner of the Marks Group PC, a 10 person customer relationship management consulting firm based outside Philadelphia. I've written six small-business management books, most recently "The Manufacturer's Book of List" and “In God We Trust, Everyone Else Pays Cash: Simple Lessons From Smart Business People.” Besides Forbes, I daily for The Washington Post and weekly for Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine and the Huffington Post monthly for Philadelphia Magazine. I am an unpaid contributor to Forbes. I make no compensation from the number of people who read what I write here. Follow me on Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In.

12/12/2011 @ 7:25AM782,787 views

If I Were A Poor Black Kid

President Obama gave an excellent speech last week in Kansas about inequality in America.

“This is the defining issue of our time.” He said. “This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. Because what’s at stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, secure their retirement.”

He’s right. The spread between rich and poor has gotten wider over the decades. And the opportunities for the 99% have become harder to realize.

The President’s speech got me thinking. My kids are no smarter than similar kids their age from the inner city. My kids have it much easier than their counterparts from West Philadelphia. The world is not fair to those kids mainly because they had the misfortune of being born two miles away into a more difficult part of the world and with a skin color that makes realizing the opportunities that the President spoke about that much harder. This is a fact. In 2011.

I am not a poor black kid. I am a middle aged white guy who comes from a middle class white background. So life was easier for me. But that doesn’t mean that the prospects are impossible for those kids from the inner city. It doesn’t mean that there are no opportunities for them. Or that the 1% control the world and the rest of us have to fight over the scraps left behind. I don’t believe that. I believe that everyone in this country has a chance to succeed. Still. In 2011. Even a poor black kid in West Philadelphia.

It takes brains. It takes hard work. It takes a little luck. And a little help from others. It takes the ability and the know-how to use the resources that are available. Like technology. As a person who sells and has worked with technology all my life I also know this.

If I was a poor black kid I would first and most importantly work to make sure I got the best grades possible. I would make it my #1 priority to be able to read sufficiently. I wouldn’t care if I was a student at the worst public middle school in the worst inner city. Even the worst have their best. And the very best students, even at the worst schools, have more opportunities. Getting good grades is the key to having more options. With good grades you can choose different, better paths. If you do poorly in school, particularly in a lousy school, you’re severely limiting the limited opportunities you have.

And I would use the technology available to me as a student. I know a few school teachers and they tell me that many inner city parents usually have or can afford cheap computers and internet service nowadays. That because (and sadly) it’s oftentimes a necessary thing to keep their kids safe at home than on the streets. And libraries and schools have computers available too. Computers can be purchased cheaply at outlets like TigerDirect and Dell’s Outlet. Professional organizations like accountants and architects often offer used computers from their members, sometimes at no cost at all.

If I was a poor black kid I’d use the free technology available to help me study. I’d become expert at Google Scholar. I’d visit study sites like SparkNotes and CliffsNotes to help me understand books. I’d watch relevant teachings on Academic Earth, TED and the Khan Academy. (I say relevant because some of these lectures may not be related to my work or too advanced for my age. But there are plenty of videos on these sites that are suitable to my studies and would help me stand out.) I would also, when possible, get my books for free at Project Gutenberg and learn how to do research at the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia to help me with my studies.

Is this easy? No it’s not. It’s hard. It takes a special kind of kid to succeed. And to succeed even with these tools is much harder for a black kid from West Philadelphia than a white kid from the suburbs. But it’s not impossible. The tools are there. The technology is there. And the opportunities there.

In Philadelphia, there are nationally recognized magnet schools like Central, Girls High and Masterman. These schools are free. But they are hard to get in to. You need good grades and good test scores. And there are also other good magnet and charter schools in the city. You also need good grades to get into those. In a school system that is so broken these are bright spots. Getting into one of these schools opens up a world of opportunities. More than 90% of the kids that go to Central go on to college. I would use the internet to research each one of these schools so I could find out how I could be admitted. I would find out the names of the admissions people and go to meet with them. If I was a poor black kid I would make it my goal to get into one of these schools.

Or even a private school. Most private schools I know are filled to the brim with the 1%. That’s because these schools are exclusive and expensive, costing anywhere between $20 and $50k per year. But there’s a secret about them. Most have scholarship programs. Most have boards of trustees that want to give opportunities to kids that can’t afford the tuition. Many would provide funding for not only tuition but also for transportation or even boarding. Trust me, they want to show diversity. They want to show smiling, smart kids of many different colors and races on their fundraising brochures. If I was a poor black kid I’d be using technology to research these schools on the internet, too, and making them know that I exist and that I get good grades and want to go to their school.

And once admitted to one of these schools the first person I’d introduce myself to would be the school’s guidance counselor. This is the person who will one day help me go to a college. This is the person who knows everything there is to know about financial aid, grants, minority programs and the like. This is the person who may also know of job programs and co-op learning opportunities that I could participate in. This is the person who could help me get summer employment at a law firm or a business owned by the 1% where I could meet people and show off my stuff.

If I was a poor black kid I would get technical. I would learn software. I would learn how to write code. I would seek out courses in my high school that teaches these skills or figure out where to learn more online. I would study on my own. I would make sure my writing and communication skills stay polished.

Because a poor black kid who gets good grades, has a part time job and becomes proficient with a technical skill will go to college. There is financial aid available. There are programs available. And no matter what he or she majors in that person will have opportunities. They will find jobs in a country of business owners like me who are starved for smart, skilled people. They will succeed.

President Obama was right in his speech last week. The division between rich and poor is a national problem. But the biggest challenge we face isn’t inequality. It’s ignorance. So many kids from West Philadelphia don’t even know these opportunities exist for them. Many come from single-parent families whose mom or dad (or in many cases their grand mom) is working two jobs to survive and are just (understandably) too plain tired to do anything else in the few short hours they’re home. Many have teachers who are overburdened and too stressed to find the time to help every kid that needs it. Many of these kids don’t have the brains to figure this out themselves – like my kids. Except that my kids are just lucky enough to have parents and a well-funded school system around to push them in the right direction.

Technology can help these kids. But only if the kids want to be helped. Yes, there is much inequality. But the opportunity is still there in this country for those that are smart enough to go for it.

Editor’s note — This post has generated an enormous amount of feedback here on Forbes and across the web. Here are a few of those responses:

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After reading the article, I have a few questions. How many poor black families do you currently know? In writing this article where did you acquire the research? Did you do a survey? Are you citing scholarly research? Lastly, is this article totally based on your personal opinion?

I agree with Ryanc86. His blindness is a danger because of the audience it will reach. It took so much more for me to strive and to make it.

I was actually offended by his comment that single parents were just plain tired to do anything once they got home. I am sure there are many corporate America people that can make that same argument.

I am a young single mother and I do work two jobs and also have a Masters degree. My five year old daughters education is very important to me and I make the time to take her to the library, show her how to use my computer at work, and get her involved in helping others.

No one, especially not my guidance counselor, sought that I received scholarships. Scholarships at my school were given to those whose parents knew the guidance counselor/worked at the school .

@andrewlevine ~ Although I’m more inclined to agree with what I believe is the “intent” of Gene’s article, I find your response to be quite thoughtful and thought-provoking. There so much I’d like to say on this important topic but I’m studying for the LSAT and I just do not have enough brainpower left to share lucidly. :~>

Gene, You cannot help that you are completely ignorant to what it would ACTUALLY be like to be a poor black kid, but you do not have the good sense to realize it. Instead you have written an embarrassingly and disgustingly condescending article. I think that you have good intentions and I understand your desire to believe in the notion that, “the opportunity is there for everyone” if they work hard, but that just isn’t true. Maybe you should do some volunteer work with organizations that attempt to help or mentor real poor black kids so that you can hope to begin to realize what their reality actually is.

This is also a great response to your article: http://www.dominionofnewyork.com/2011/12/13/if-i-were-the-middle-class-white-guy-gene-marks/#.Tuq4SHZWGPX

You wait until your final paragraph to point out that kids don’t have the brains to figure all that out themselves, a fact which renders your long diatribe completely pointless. You’re able to credit your parents’ instructive and guiding role in your life, but you’re infusing your narrow views into the decisions that a “poor black kid” could make as if children have the foresight to know how the consequences of their choices will turn out. At what age precisely do you expect poor children to begin researching prep schools that will get them to the best colleges? Many an affluent Black parent thinks back to what they wish they could’ve done differently when they were poor Black kids, but they’re aware that whatever they didn’t learn from their parents couldn’t benefit them in their early decision-making.

Your argument–not that you have much of one–should be directed to parents. Read Thomas Shapiro’s book, “Hidden Cost of Being African-American” and have more respect for the historical factors that affect what situations–economic and other–we’re all born into.

With an Ivy League MBA, and 3 other college degrees, I can certainly attest to the benefits of knowledge as an equalizer, but I did not grow up knowing how the system really worked. Nobody where I lived knew, and therefore there was nobody there to teach that to me. I’m privileged, however, to have had a mother who reminded us that we had opportunities to improve ourselves through learning. It wasn’t until much later that I mastered that learning to chart my own course, but by that time, I wasn’t a poor Black kid any longer.

You’re right to the point, my friend; and I couldn’t agree more. I’m from very poor background, a child of Latino immigrants, and although I had the opportunity to get degrees in Engineering and Law, I can’t forget those childhood friends of mine (some of them smarter and/or better students than me) that just felt behind in life. Mr. Marks is well intentioned, but is sooooo wrong! No matter how intelligent and well educated you are, it is hard to understand something you’ve just not lived. He just doesn’t understand that many, in fact most, of the decisions and actions he would do or take if he “were a poor black kid”, in the life of a real kid are or have been made and taken by others… even before the kid himself was even born.